FA 102

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I came across Henrik Purienne’s work while browsing on Tumblr. His portfolio consists of high-grain, sun-soaked film shots of models on the beach and in various tropical areas around the world. By that description, his work does not sound all that great, but he is one of my favorites at the moment. He has worked closely with American Apparel, producing some of the brand’s most well-known photos. Looking at Purienne’s photos, it seems as though you wouldn’t consider the man who took them to be an actual photographer. I believe that’s the genius about it. The models in his photographs are not wearing any harsh makeup or acting out dramatic poses. He shoots them more from a filmmaker/documentary eye and I find that to be genius. He has also published a self-titled book called “Purienne” and is the founder and creative producer of his own magazine called Mirage. His work can be viewed at purienne.com

Annie Leibovitz is considered by many to be the most famous celebrity photographer. Leibovitz was the chief photographer of The Rolling Stone magazine, where she strongly influenced their image. She has also taken many of what are considered to be the most iconic photos ever taken. Some of work has stirred up controversy in the media. Some of these works include her shoot with the Queen of England and her topless photo of Miley Cyrus when she was around 13 years old. Leibovitz had photographed Yoko Ono and John Lennon hours before Lennon was assassinated. My personal favorite are the portraits she did of Kate Moss and Johnny Depp along with a portrait taken of Kate Winslet, embodying her character in Titanic. She also created a series of photos for Disney where celebrities were photographed as iconic Disney characters.

I found this artist while browsing through instagram a while ago and was in awe at her work. The artist’s name is Charmaine Olivia and she is based in San Francisco. She specializes mainly in oil painting portraits of female iconic models and celebrities. I found her style to be very refreshing because I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other artist’s work similar to hers. She quite often utilizes a naturalistic theme in her paintings. I’ve seen seahorses, starfishes, birds, dolphins, lingering eyes, and tons and tons of flowers and flower petals. I also found her technique of doodling various patterns/little designs around the subject of the painting to reflect an unwillingess to limit her creativity. Her work can be viewed at http://www.charmaineolivia.com

For my final post, I would like to introduce my favorite piece from this semester. This work is not specifically from this art 102 class but, from my intro to drawing class. The objective of the project was to show shadows through contouring/cross-hatching. I was able to connect with this project more than others and I had fun working with fine detail. I felt that this was one of the first projects where I immersed myself and spent time to perfectly emulate shadows. I decided to try and mix mediums by using sharpie for the more detailed shadow work, while I used India ink for the background.

Tintin Cooper is a female artist reigning from Bangkok City. I probably ran into her work from either Tumblr or from late evenings of procrastination, and was instantly mesmerized. I give credit to Cooper for initiating my love and interest for collage work. In her work, she uses notable figures form sports to popular media to point out society’s celebrity obsessions.

“My work takes its starting point from icons/images of masculinity, heroism and male identity, which are subsequently deconstructed through the mediums of sculpture, installation and collage.” – Tintin Cooper

These images are usually constructed in a way to obscure the figures’ faces as if to mock them. What I also enjoy about these photos is the quality. Cooper purposefully takes photos from the 80’s because they’re “less complicated and more romantic”. I also understand her intentions and admire the vintage feel. Cooper’s work of a man in a red sweater has to be my favorite because of her interesting use of weaving in order to distort the figure’s face. However, she arranges the image in a way where you could still put together the man’s face.

One artist that I have recently stumbled across and have been OBSESSED with is Matthew Cox. Raised in Philadelphia, Cox attended the Parsons School of Design in New York City and Otis/Parsons in LA. He is known for his work with mix media such as drawings, oil paintings, and (most notably) for his inspiring fusion of medical x-rays and embroidery. What makes his art so enchanting is his blend of completely opposite mediums and his way of turning everyday medical equipment into works of art. Many of his weavings either add on to the x-rayed body parts or add a scene around the x-ray. In his most recent mini x-rayed weavings, Cox takes a chest x-ray and adds on iconic heads such as Ms. Piggy, Snow White, Casper, Barbie, and many more. I wish I could visit his exhibits in person just to see how he combines the two mediums together; either he sews on top the x-ray or somehow places the two together. I also love the fact that a man is able to create fine art weavings with such detail and accuracy, when usually women are associated with weaving in US culture.

My favorite art work that I did this semester in class was the project we in which we were supposed to create a piece that touched on a social issue. My project was inspired by Ed Ruscha; his work always appears to be soft and elegant. The simplicity of his pieces is what motivated me to make mine. The issue I chose to discuss was the field mouse going extinct. Many animals today that we wouldn’t expect are going extinct. Like the field mouse, people still perceive them as a pest. The painting I constructed was also enjoyable to paint. I used different forms of the color purple to make the mouse as well as different shades to make the background and base color. It was challenging using only purple to create something that is naturally made up of many different colors but I learned a lot from this experience. Ruscha also would often put words into his paintings, whether they were random or not. I chose the word “vanish” because it is a synonym to extinct but it also promotes more thought and realization that once these animals are gone they aren’t coming back.